#forewordFriday

Around the country, interest in Zero Net Energy (ZNE) buildings is growing—this fall Santa Monica passed the world’s first ZNE building requirement for new single family homes and Boise unveiled Idaho’s first commercial ZNE building.

While it has long been clear that the world’s oceans are in trouble, the lack of reliable data on fishery catches has obscured the scale, and nuances, of the crisis. Based on an unprecedented 10-year research study by the world's foremost fisheries experts, the Global Atlas of Marine Fisheries will fundamentally change the way the world thinks about ocean exploitation and management. It is the first and only book to provide accurate, country-by-country fishery data.

In his latest book, esteemed architect and city planner Alexander Garvin explores the question What Makes a Great City. As Garvin visited great cities to answer this question, he found that a city’s greatness has little to do with beauty or function, but rather depends on its relationship with the people who inhabit it. It is about what citizens can do to make a city great.

Bummed our Free Summe Read e-book promotion is over? Fear not! You can still get great content from Island Press. For those last minute summer vacations, bring along our collection of 2015 Urban Resilience Project content in Resilience Matters: Forging a Greener, Fairer Future for All. You'll find a wide-ranging series of articles, blogs, and op-eds from a diverse group of thinkers including activists, academics, architects, and more.